Layout

The castle has five towers of dizzying size, with equally monstrous curtain walls. The walls are incredibly thick and its rooms are built on a scale that would be more comfortable for giants than humans.[5]

Harrenhal covers three times as much ground as Winterfell and its buildings are so much larger that they can scarcely be compared. Its stables can house a thousand horses, its godswood covers twenty acres, and its kitchens are as large as Winterfell's Great Hall.[5]

However, much of Harrenhal has far gone into decay. The Whents use only the lower thirds of two of the five towers, letting the rest go to ruin, and many places in the castle have not been entered in decades. Bats infest the tops of some of the towers.[5]

Walls and Towers

Harrenhal is built on a gigantic scale; its colossal curtain walls are sheer and high as mountain cliffs while atop the battlements the wood-and-iron scorpions seem as small as their namesakes when seen from the ground. Harrenhal's gatehouse is as large as Winterfell's Great Keep, and its stone is discolored and fissured. From outside the gatehouse, only the tops of five immense towers can be seen because the height of the walls obscure the view of them.

Of the castle's five towers, the shortest is half again as high as the tallest one in Winterfell, yet none of the towers are proper, being bent, lumped, and cracked from the melting of the stone during the burning of Harrenhal by the Targaryendragons three centuries earlier. Their original names were lost with the death of Harren the Black.[5]

Kingspyre Tower contains the castellan's chambers. It connects to the Widow's Tower via a stone bridge.

Known Gates:

The main gate has walls so thick that no less than a dozen murder holes are passed before one reaches the yard on the other side.

The east gate is smaller than the main gate and is located near the Tower of Ghosts.

Misc

The Hall of the Hundred Hearths is the castle's great hall. It has only thirty-four or thirty-five hearths, but is said to be able to entertain an army.[5] Its floors are smooth slate and there are steps to two galleries above.

The kitchens are located in a round stone building with a domed roof containing nothing but kitchens. The kitchens are as large as Winterfell's Great Hall.[5]

The Barracks Hall above the armory is where the men-at-arms take their meals.[5]

The armory is located below the Barracks Hall and contains the forge.

The godswood is walled over twenty acres. It has a small stream running through it. The weirwoodheart tree appears to have a terrible visage full of hatred, with a twisted mouth and flaring eyes. It is located across the ward from where the Barracks Hall and the armory are. The heart tree has thirteen deep marks carved into it dating to 130 AC when Daemon Targaryen battled Aemond Targaryen in the Dance of the Dragons. These marks still bleed every spring.

Flowstone Yard is where men-at-arms exercise and drill and squires clean arms and armor. It has a lumpy surface and is located near the Wailing Tower. There is a covered gallery above the Flowstone Yard with arches looking towards it. [5][6]

The bear pit is ten yards across and five yards across, walled in stone, floored with sand, and encircled by six tiers of marble benches.[6] It is located in the middle ward.

The bathhouse is a low-ceilinged room filled with great stone tubs large enough to hold six or seven after the fashion of the Free Cities.[7] The bathhouse is made of stone and timber, with only one entrance to the room.[8]

The construction of Harren's dream took forty years. Thousands of captives died in the quarries chained to sledges or laboring on the five huge towers. Men froze by winter and sweltered in summer. Weirwoods that had stood three thousand years were cut down to provide rafters and beams. Harren beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream.[10]

Upon its completion, Harren boasted that his new fortress was impregnable. However, he did not account for Aegon the Conqueror and his dragons invading Westeros. On the day Harren took up residence, Aegon came ashore at what would become King's Landing. The dragons were not obstructed by high walls and forbidding towers and roasted Harren alive in the tallest of the towers, now known as Kingspyre. Harren and all his line perished in the burning of Harrenhal. Due to the extreme heat of dragonflame, the castle took on a charred, melted appearance.[10]

Since Aegon's Conquest, the castle has become a white elephant. It is too big to garrison effectively and too expensive to maintain.[11] Harren allegedly mixed human blood into the mortar for the stonework;[8] some believe that the castle is cursed and haunted due to Harren's hubris and the horrors that have occurred within the castle's walls, with the early deaths of its many rulers as proof.[12][13][10][4][14][1][15][2] The curse is thought to prevent any lord from holding Harrenhal indefinitely.[16]

A new group of northern prisoners, including Robett Glover, are brought to Harrenhal by the Brave Companions. The incognito Arya, who has been serving at the castle, convinces Jaqen H'ghar to help her free the prisoners and revolt against Amory's Lannisters. At the same time, the Brave Companions butcher the Lannister bannermen and all who are loyal to them, then hand the castle to Lord Bolton. Amory is killed within the bear pit for entertainment after the fall of Harrenhal.[30] Arya serves Roose as his cupbearer.[31]

Harrenhal remains occupied by Roose Bolton's northmen and Ser Aenys Frey's rivermen. Roose punishes and executes some of the castle's servants for having served House Lannister.[31] Arya thinks of herself as the ghost in Harrenhal,[30] but she flees with Gendry and Hot Pie from the castle when she learns Roose intends to grant it to Vargo Hoat, the leader of the Brave Companions.[31]

The Bloody Mummers bring Jaime and Brienne of Tarth to Harrenhal,[34] and within the castle's bathhouse Jaime reveals the wildfire plot to Brienne.[7] While departing Harrenhal for Edmure's wedding at the Twins, Lord Bolton sends Walton to escort Jaime to King's Landing. Brienne remains in Vargo's control.[7] After a dream during his journey to the capital, however, Jaime insists on returning to Harrenhal, arriving in time to rescue Brienne from the bear pit. Jaime brings Brienne with him to safety in King's Landing.[6]

Though he has never set foot within Harrenhal's walls, Petyr Baelish remains its lord. The castle's large dominion elevates Petyr's social position enough to marry Lysa Arryn, the widowed-Lady Regent of the Vale of Arryn.[39][40]

Jaime: This castle has an ill repute, and one that's well deserved. It's said that Harren and his sons still walk the halls by night, afire. Those who look upon them burst into flame.

Bonifer: I fear no shade, ser. It is written in The Seven-Pointed Star that spirits, wights, and revenants cannot harm a pious man, so long as he is armored in his faith.Jaime: Then armor yourself in faith, by all means, but wear a suit of mail and plate as well. Every man who holds this castle seems to come to a bad end. The Mountain, the Goat, even my father ...[3]